Could we do better as a society? Maybe. To do that though you’d have to bring these stories into film classrooms and get students inspired. But first you have to make the stories inspiring and a lot of them aren’t thaaat much except for the advancements they provided to the field and that’s harder to convey. Maybe Leibniz and Newton would be a good rivalry on the screen.
[1] https://www.themoviedb.org/keyword/8689-albert-einstein/movi...
https://www.dogomovies.com/einstein-and-eddington/movie-revi...
My point is even einstein doesn’t get the same treatment as, say, a politician or actor gets as far as coverage. There’s more out there about Elvis than Newton.
Same thing goes for mathematics that is too "deep". Most people could not care less about prime numbers. Yes, they drive important cryptographic procedures. But we care about cryptography. We care that the message gets to its destination "safely". If its done using prime numbers, imaginary numbers, geometric numbers or fantasy numbers, it does not matter.
I think the real issue is the producers and directors and business folks in the film industry are not in that camp. They’re more likely to make a biography of Robin Williams than Paul Dirac, and they decide what gets made.
There are tons of excellent books on mathematicians, engineers, and scientists. Just virtually no visual media.
I mean would a biopic about Einstein touch on his many relationships (including his cousin) and the drama around that?
Colors of Math breezes across six contemporary mathematicians.
